Soft Place to Fall Hard Lesson to Learn Baley
by xjoiefulx
Summary: Sometimes Brooke feels like she is super imposing herself on Haley.


**Title**: Soft Place To Fall (Hard Lesson To Learn)

**Fandom**: OTH

**Pairing**: Brooke and Haley with slight mentions of Nathan and Lucas

**Summary**: Sometimes Brooke feels like she is super imposing herself on Haley.

**Rating**: PG-13

**Word Count**: 1,480

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of these characters or have any affiliation with the show, One Tree Hill, itself. They are all products of Mark Schwann and co., and are not being used to make a profit. This fictional story was written for the sole purpose of entertaining my own imagination.

**Author**: a Notes : This fic was written for my friend and sometimes the other half of me, Nic. It was also inspired by, Tej (mrsotown on lj) and her love of Brooke and Haley, plus there is massive love for the character Nathan.

**Feedback**: It is my crack, please email a or comment and let me know if you enjoyed it.

"Hey tutor girl," a groggy Brooke rolled over in bed towards her as she felt the mattress slightly depress and an equally half-awake Haley climb in beside her and cover up.

"Morning Tigger," she was met with a mumbled response as she leaned towards her instinctively and kissed the top of her forehead smiling against her hair.

What time was it, Brooke wondered as she burrowed her head further down into the covers pulling them up over the two of them a little more and snuggled into Haley's warm embrace. She never tired of the other girls scent and shared a small smile with herself.

It was as if Haley was reading her mind when she mumbled, "Too early, need coffee and food."

Brooke laughed softly from somewhere underneath the covers piled massively high above their heads, but refused to budge from her position where she was snuggled warmly against Haley. She delighted in the warm soft feeling of Haley pressed against her most especially when she was recovering from a bad night. Seeing Rachel with Lucas wasn't a good thing and she had been more than a little upset the night before. It had taken a lot of Haley just being there and holding her to calm her down quite a bit.

Sometimes Brooke felt like she was super imposing herself on Haley, but one look at Haley's face, seeing the look in her eyes when she voiced these feelings told her otherwise. She reasoned with herself that if Haley didn't want to be here, if she didn't want to be this way with Brooke then she could just as easily say no and leave. She hadn't done that though, she had remained at her side and had always opened her heart up to her and offered her all the support in the world that a friend would need right now in more ways than one.

"Feeling better Tigger," Haley whispered softly as she rested her chin softly atop Brooke's head.

"Hmmm," Brooke mumbled peeking up from underneath the covers just a little bit, "that depends on if I run into Rachel and Lucas again at breakfast today."

Haley laughed a little as she smoothed some of Brooke's hair back from her forehead with one of her hands and wrapped the other one around the pretty brunette's petite frame pulling her closer.

"You mean if we even make it to breakfast at Karen's with the way you're dragging around this morning," she teased.

"No fair," Brooke poked Haley underneath the covers causing her to jump a little and let out a small squeal.

"I was having a rough night last night to begin with and just seeing Rachel anywhere near Lucas let alone in the condition she was is enough to put anyone in a bad mood."

"Oh Brooke," Haley sighed softly, "I know. It's not going to get any easier though I can tell you from experience. It seems like every time I even dare to look in Nathan's direction let alone think of doing it, he has to act like a world-class jackass. Sometimes I think he's never going to forgive me."

"Awe," Brooke's heart ached slightly at the mention of Nathan's recent treatment of Haley as she reached both arms out and engulfed her friend in them hugging her tightly, "tutor wife I'm sorry Nathan's being such a jackass lately. You deserve so much better than that. He'll forgive you one day, you'll see. It's just going to take a little while."

She wanted to add that she was the thing that could be so much better for Haley, but she wasn't sure how she would react to it that and the fact that she was half afraid that it would ruin the bond of friendship that they'd built over the last few months together. Brooke had to admit that even she hadn't been this close to another female since she spent almost every waking minute over at Peyton's and that had been a long time ago.

There had been a few good moments but lately she found herself having a little more fun with Haley during the last few months. It was almost like the two of them had something in common, something to bond over and the best thing about it was it didn't center on the same boy both of them liked. Brooke knew that her relationship with Lucas was much different than that of Haley and Nathan's since the two of them were married, but she also knew that when she looked at the two of them the last year they had kind of given her hope to rebuild her past relationship with Lucas. Or well at least try.

Now she wasn't even sure she wanted to do that, in fact the only thing she wanted to do right now as just stay in bed and snuggle with Haley like the two of them had grown accustomed to doing lately. Brooke drew in a small steady breath and let it out slowly and decided to take the plunge. What did she have to risk, their friendship? Maybe Haley felt the same way about her too, something about the smile she gave, the way she brushed her hair out of her eyes or kissed her forehead said there might be a little more there than she realized unless she was reading the signs all wrong.

"Hey, Hales...", Brooke's voice was light and conversational.

"Yeah," her friend looked down at her as she focused in on a spot on the wall figuring that it'd be easier said without looking at Haley directly.

"Do you ever wonder what your life would be like if you and Nathan weren't together and you decided to actually get divorced? I mean could you ever see yourself with anyone else other than him?"

Brooke heard Haley let out a soft sigh and risked looking up at her, but when she did she noticed that she to was focusing on that same spot on the wall Brooke herself had been looking at when she asked her question. Maybe this was a sign of something good to come, maybe this meant that Haley did feel a little of what she did for her. She'd just have to wait this out and see.

"Sometimes," Haley's response and was short and to the point.

"Really," Brooke inquired trying to get her to divulge a little more information than she had.

"Yeah, sometimes so much that it makes me cry. I mean I love Nathan and I want more than anything for the two of us to work through our problems and just be us again, but sometimes I think that's never going to happen. Ya know, like he's never going to forgive me and if he ever does then he won't forget and that will end up causing problems for us."

"It shouldn't," Brooke interrupted softly as she looked up at Hales who was smiling down at her.

"I know that, but then the other part of me thinks that maybe I can't be with him anymore because there's someone else that I didn't expect to love and I don't want to hurt that person anymore than they've already been hurt, ya know."

Haley dropped another light kiss to the top of Brooke's head silently hoping she would be able to figure it out and as soon as she did she felt Brooke's grip on her tighten and smiled into her hair.

"I think I love you too, Tutor girl," she whispered as one of her hands trailed up Haley's side, over her arm and cupped her chin leaning up she laughed softly as she watched Haley scooting down to meet her mouth which was only just inches away from her own.

Brooke whispered warmly, "Wanna make out?"

Haley giggle softly as she leaned in a little closer and let her own soft lips touch Brooke's, something that she'd been wanting to do for a long while. They were soft and inviting and she reveled in the feel of them as her own parted and Brooke's pink tongue slipped inside gently rubbing against her tongue. She moaned softly into her mouth as her own hand ran down Brooke's side until it reached the hem of the tank she wore and slipped underneath.

Nathan caught himself as nearly rolled out of bed.

"What the fuck," he thought as he tried to shake the though from his head.

When he finally reached a sitting position he smirked. He knew he wasn't just letting his best fantasy get the better of him there was something more. He could see it in Haley's eyes, the way she looked at Brooke, the smile she kept on reserve for her and more importantly the morning he walked past their window and saw the two of them embracing one another.


End file.
